John Ferraro (1924–2001) was the longest-serving Los Angeles City Council member in the history of the city—thirty-five years, from 1966 until his death in 2001—and the president of the council for fourteen of them. He had been an all-American football player at the University of Southern California.

He was married to Julie Marie Luckey, daughter of Democratic State Senator E. George Luckey, and they had a son, Luckeygian, or Lucky, born about 1956. The Ferraros were divorced in 1972.[2][3][5] His second wife was Bridget Margaret Hart,[6] widely known as exotic dancer and stripteaser Margie Hart in the 1940s—and then as a legitimate actress who even later made money through real-estate investments. They met at a reception in support of Democrat Pierre Salinger's unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign in 1964, and they were married in 1982. She died in 2000.[3][7]

Ferraro was diagnosed with cancer of the spleen in August 1999 and underwent chemotherapy. Mayor Richard Riordan was at his side, along with family members, when he died at the age of 76 in Santa Monica on April 17, 2001.[1] A crowd of nearly a thousand filled St. Brendan Catholic Church, Ferraro's parish, for a funeral mass conducted by Cardinal Roger Mahony. Family present included Ferraro's brother, Steve, sisters Mary and Rose and his son, Gianni Luckey.[8]

He entered government service in 1953, when Mayor Norris Poulson appointed him to the city Police Commission, where he served for thirteen years.[9] During that period, he advocated more-stringent gun laws and backed African-American John Roseboro, former Los Angeles Dodgers star, to do community relations work for the Police Department after the 1965 Watts riots.[3]

Supported by Mayor Sam Yorty and seen as a "product of the old guard of conservative if nominally Democratic politicians who used to dominate local politics,"[9] he was appointed in May 1966 from among thirteen applicants to represent Los Angeles City Council District 4 after the death of incumbent Harold A. Henry.[4][10] Because of his height, when he took office carpenters had to remove a drawer from his desk so that his legs could fit under it.[1]

In 1999, he was fined $3,300 by the Los Angeles Ethics Commission for receiving campaign contributions in 1997 above a newly established limit. It and penalties levied against Councilmen Mike Hernandez and Mark Ridley-Thomas were the first to be made under a law effective in 1985.[15]

Ferraro's election as City Council president in 1977 to replace John Gibson allowed him to make committee appointments and set a general direction for the council. In that year he restructured the committee system to "reflect concerns about the environment and city finances."[3] It advanced him to the second most powerful position in the city and made him acting mayor when Tom Bradley was out of town.[5] Ferraro later denied he used his committee appointing power "to reward allies and punish enemies," but he admitted to being practical: "Anybody who mistreats their friends to benefit their enemies is not practicing good politics," he said. "You don't get reelected to the presidency that way."[16]

In Ferraro's 1997 reshuffle of committee seats, the biggest loser was Nate Holden, "the frequent butt of Ferraro's jokes, who was ousted from all three of his committees and given far lower-profile assignments," Jodi Wilgoren reported in the Los Angeles Times.[17]

It was said that Ferraro often calmed disputes on the City Council "with humor and a firm hand" and that after his death it was "unlikely such a dominant figure will again emerge," because of newly imposed term limits at City Hall.[18]

1984. Ferraro's "biggest citywide leadership role was in helping bring the Olympics to Los Angeles, serving on early committees trying to attract the Games."[3]

1985. Ferraro was considered pro-development, and he usually supported most everything that building industry leaders wanted, one exception being rent control because of the large number of elderly renters in his district.

1989. He opposed building underground transportation lines (subways), believing instead that mass transit should run along freeways or, in the San Fernando Valley, along existing rail lines.[3][9]

1996. The City Council president opposed Mayor Richard Riordan's plans for a City Charter revision commission to be elected by the voters, on the grounds that it would be chaotic and would undermine the council's authority. He wanted a committee of experts in public policy and constitutional law appointed by the City Council itself.[20] In the end, both panels were set up and worked on their own drafts for a charter revision.

On November 16, 2000, in honor of his more than five decades of public service, the City of Los Angeles renamed the landmark Department of Water and Power's General Office Building to the John Ferraro Building.[24] The building was designed by the architects AC Martin Partners, Inc. and opened in 1964.[25]

The Margaret and John Ferraro Chair in Effective Local Government was established at the School of Policy, Planning and Development of the University of Southern California.[8]